1. Origins of Civilization: Begins in Mesopotamia
Unit 2

2. TAKS Objectives: As students, you will…
Demonstrate an understanding of geographic influences on historical issues and events
Objective 3
Demonstrate an understanding of economic (relating to) and social influence on historical issues and events
Objective 5
Use critical thinking skills to analyze social studies information

3. Mesopotamia Once located in present day Southern Iraq
Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Also known as the land “Between the Rivers”
Little rain in the region but its soil is enriched by silt (material deposited by the two rivers when overflowed, ex: mud, clay, or small rocks)
Covers 3 areas: Assyria, Akkad, & Sumer

5. Fertile Crescent Located from the Mediterranean Sea to Persian Gulf
Rich soil and abundant crops

6. People in Mesopotamia
Developed a system of drainage ditches & irrigation
What do you think happen due to this system?
Answer: large food supply provided significant population growth and the Emergence of a Civilization
Sumerians developed the first Mesopotamian Civilization

7. Sumerians
By 3,000 B.C., a number of city-states established around Ur & Uruk
A city with political & economic control over surrounding countryside's.
Sumerian buildings were built from mud bricks
Sumerian’s invented the arch, dome, and large brick buildings in the world

8. Sumerians continued Each city had it’s own temple
Often built on top of a huge stepped tower called a ziggurat
Believed in gods and goddesses who owned & ruled cities
Government based on theocracy
A government ruled by divine authority (being or having the nature of god, the bible)
Eventually, ruling power was passed on to kings

9. Sumerian Economy & Society
Economy mostly based on agriculture but also industry and trade
Society had 3 classes:
1) Noble= royal family, officials, priests
2) Commoners= (90% of society), worked for large estate farmers, merchants, fishers, and craftsmen
3) Slaves= built buildings, wove cloth & worked on farms

10. Empires in Mesopotamia
Akkadians lived north of Sumerian city-states
Also called Semitic people because they spoke a Semitic language
Around 2,340 B.C., Sargon, leader of Akkadians, conquered the Sumerian city- states & established the world’s first empire
A large political unit that controls many peoples and territories

12. Hammurabi
In 1792 B.C., Hammurabi of Babylon, a city-state south of Akkad, created a new empire over much of Akkad and Sumer
Hammurabi was known for his law code called “Code of Hammurabi”
Harsh punishments against different social classes
Code demanded punishment fit for the crime
Code of Hammurabi expressed patriarchal (society dominated by men) nature of Mesopotamian society

13. Mesopotamian Religion
Believed world was controlled by destructive supernatural forces & gods
Were considered to be polytheistic, believing in gods & goddesses
Identified 3,000 of them
Human beings were to serve & obey the gods and goddesses

14. System of Writing & Technologies
Sumerians created a system of writing called cuneiform, “wedge shaped”, used to describe strokes of the stylus.
Writing used for keeping records, teaching, and law
New technologies were the invention of the wagon wheel, numbering system based on 60 and advances in applying geometry to engineering

15. Epic of Gilgamesh
Most important piece of Mesopotamian literature (epic poem)
Teaches that only the gods are immortal
Gilgamesh was a king who was wise & strong, part human & part god
His companion was a hairy beast named Enkidu
When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh feels his pain of death & searches for the secret of immortality
His search fails & he returns to Uruk where he becomes a good king & ends his life happily
An epic poem is a narration of achievements, labors, and sometimes the failures of heroes that embodies a people’s or nations conception of its own past